FRISCO — It may be lights out for Pacific bluefin tuna after the National Marine Fisheries Service last week reversed an earlier decision to restrict fishing for the dwindling species.

According to the emergency rule from the agency, the fishery will reopen until the 500 metric ton catch limit is reached. In a federal register notice, the agency said it imposed the closure prematurely.Continue reading →

FRISCO — Pacific bluefin tuna won’t last long at any sustainable level without immediate and drastic intervention by fisheries managers, according to ocean advocates who are urging the federal government to adopt strict limits on bluefin tuna catch.

Bluefin tuna are already under extreme pressure from overfishing, and some countries — notably Spain — are pushing for higher, unsustainable catch limits. Conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, are calling on the delegates to put a cap on bluefin tuna fishing to preserve and restore the species in the Atlantic Basin. Continue reading →

According to a report released today, Mediterranean fishermen have been violating quotas at will and have engaged in numerous illegal fishing practices, including misreporting catch size, hiring banned spotter planes, catching undersized fish, and trading fishing quotas.

Spawning stock of the eastern Atlantic bluefin has plummeted nearly 75 percent since 1974, The fish is the favored source of red tuna sushi and sashimi. Japan makes up three-quarters of the world market, but the fish is also served in restaurants from Paris to New York. Each year, thousands of tons of fish have been illegally caught and traded. At its peak — between 1998 and 2007 — this black market included more than one out of every three bluefin caught, conservatively valued at $400 million per year. Continue reading →

Satellite study shows key spawning area was inundated by oil during critical time of year

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Oil spewing from BP’s failed Deepwater Horizon drilling rig may have reduced the humber of juvenile bluefin tuna by 20 percent in one of two critical spawning areas in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

Careful study of satellite images showing the extent of the spill compared against a habitat index showed that the oil spread into the key spawning area in the northeastern Gulf at the most critical time, when young tuna are feeding near the surface. That means the presence of oil there is likely fatal for such tiny organisms, according to a press release from the ESA. Continue reading →